ALL INCLUDED

I know that all of us have heard the term personal Saviour used many times. Is this a correct statement to make? Is Jesus a personal Saviour? I don’t think the Bible ever refers to Jesus with the term personal Saviour.

If that is a correct statement that it would appear to put salvation back into the hands of man if we are to say we make Him our personal Saviour. In Revelation 12:10 it says “now is come salvation” which seems to me to indicate that salvation came before I asked or believed for it. I cannot see that God would let His children have a major decision like where we will spend eternity into our hands

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I know that in our case none of us would leave such a huge decision in the hands of our children, especially if we knew that the wrong choice would mean burning forever in a hell created by God like the church out there tells people. How ludicrous is that to believe that God would leave it up to us to make a decision whether we burn in a hell he created or spend eternity with Him. The more I think of this the more totally ridiculous its sounds. I am sure none of us would leave a decision of that magnitude to our children. No, God did not leave that decision up to us.

 

I heard Robert Rutherford say it this way one time…..it’s like if I put two cookies on the table for one of my children, and one was laced with deadly arsenic. I would give him the choice of picking the “right” cookie and if he ate the wrong one it would mean certain death. After eating the wrong one I would say to him…well you picked the wrong one and it is your fault and you have to pay the consequences. Who would do that to one of their children? None of us of course and neither would God give us a choice on where we spend eternity.

 

God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself when Jesus hung on the cross. The decision to do that was made before the foundation of the world and it was done without my permission or belief. God made the decision for all of mankind that they would spend eternity with him regardless of what choice or choices we make. It was just not left up to us to make such a huge decision that would seal our eternal destiny. Our eternal destiny was made by God and secured in Jesus at the cross.

 

Like Marco said in a comment on my post of Sept. 29/06, and I quote: it’s just so dang hilarious!!! Listen people you must believe in order for God to forgive you for not believing!!!! end quote.How ridiculous is that to think we have to believe in order for the shed blood of Jesus to have any effect. Like Marco said, the sin He died for was the sin of unbelief that Adam passed on to each and every one of us. Our forgiveness was at the cross the same as all other things that needed to be fulfilled because the Word became flesh…all of it.

Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I am sure all of us have used that verse at one time or another to try and lead people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

I have heard it used on many occasions to get people to come to an altar and say a sinner’s prayer in order to gain entry into heaven. This is probably one of the most quoted verses, or should I say mis-quoted, in the Bible when it comes to pointing out sin in people. What I know I did in the past is look at that verse and stop there without reading the rest of the verses and see what they are saying.

Are these sins that are in the lives of an unbeliever? Is this verse quoted properly when it comes to trying to “lead people to Christ”? Lets look a little further into these verses as it is quite clear when it is read in context that he is not talking about us in this age we live in. The previous verses are talking about how God brought forth His righteousness by the faith of Christ which of course was at the cross. Did He bring forth His righteousness because of my faith? No, it was the faith OF Jesus and not mine.

The first word in verse 23 is “for” so it is telling us the reason God had to bring forth His righteousness. He had to bring that forth because “all had sinned and came short of the Glory of God”. As we read a bit further we see that all those that had sinned, which was everyone, were freely justified by His grace. When was the human race justified freely? We were justified freely when redemption was brought forth. This of course was accomplished at the cross. So if justification and redemption was given through the faith of Jesus Christ at the cross, then what sins was he talking about in verse 23? The answer is very clear in verse 25. He declared His righteousness for “sins that are past” which is what he was talking about in verse 23. Why only sins that are past? Because after the cross there is no sin imputed to anyone because the law was nailed to the tree and where there is no law there is no transgression.

If you are walking around thinking that God is angry at you and will punish you for your sins, you are sadly mistaken. God took out His anger upon His Son when He hung on the cross and it was the end of not only His anger but the end of His judgment also. This is just another example of how verses have been used out of context over the years to justify what is preached. We are not to tell people that “all have sinned” but we are rather to tell people that “all are righteous” and no longer come short of the glory of God. That is the ministry of reconciliation that God has given us. Not to point out sins and use verses like these out of context, but simply to show people that righteousness came to all at the cross through the work that God the Father did through Jesus when he suffered and died.

It is all about Him and all of mankind is included in this glorious redemption plan that was finished at the cross. It is finished were Jesus’ last words and He had done exactly that. He had finished His work which was to redeem all mankind.

Most people will tell you that works are a part of God’s redemption plan for our lives which of course was purchased for us at the cross. Let’s look at Romans 4v2.

There we see that if Abraham was justified by works he could maybe glory in himself and maybe even in front of others. But the last part of the verse tells us that one place he could not glory was before God. If anyone thinks they are justified by what they have done, are doing or will do, they may be able to boast to others about what they think they have accomplished but definitely not before God. It may make you look good in front of people when they see your good works but those people can not give you access to God. You can impress people all day long or you can disappoint people all day long, it does not change your relationship with God.

The system of law that used to measure works as to whether you were or were not acceptable to God was removed when Jesus nailed the law to the tree. The law (works) does not measure that way anymore. What we have with God in Christ has absolutely nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with Jesus and what He did. The covenant was not made between us and God but between God and God. In verse 3 we see that Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

We must remember that Abraham is not a type and shadow of us but of Christ. In verse 4 we see that him that worketh is the reward not counted of grace but of debt. So if you are doing any type of work to attain favor with God it is no longer a work of grace but a debt to you because you worked for it. No one can put God in a place where He is obligated to do anything for us because of our works. Only the cross and the faith of Jesus have received a response from God.

Our works to attain anything with respect to God does not “cut it” with God and it doesn’t activate a response. It simply creates a debt because we worked for it and it is not by works. It is all about Him and not about us at all. A work based mentality will get you no favors from God. You are acceptable in God’s sight apart from your works, not because of them.

Christ has become of no effect if you have fallen from grace.

This is found in Galatians 5v4 and most of what we have heard in Christianized (is that a word?) circles is that we are told that this is when we fall into some type of sin and we are out of fellowship with God. I am sure most of us have heard this preached at one time or another and to be honest with you, before I knew or understood anything about grace, I agreed with what was preached!!

 

The beginning of verse 4 of Galatians 5 says if you are fallen from grace then Christ has become of no effect to you. That is quite a statement and I am sure it scares most people when they hear that preached knowing they are doing something that they ought not to be doing. What makes Christ of no effect in our lives? Falling from grace does, so we should look at what falling from grace means. Does it mean we have gone back into some type of sin? Does it mean we are doing something that we have been told is not pleasing to God? No, that is not what it means at all.

 

Those that are fallen from grace are those that have turned from the grace of God and have gone back under law. What does it mean to go back under law? I believe it means we have returned to trying to do something for this free grace and redemption that has been provided by Christ at the cross. We have to understand there is absolutely nothing we can do to gain or keep God’s favor. We are already pleasing to Him apart from what we do or don’t do. If you are doing something to try and be pleasing to God then you are under law and have fallen from grace. For by grace are you saved through faith, and it is a gift from God. What is the gift from God? Both the grace and the faith are a gift because it is not our faith that provides us with grace. It is the faith OF Jesus Christ that has provided us with grace. If you are trying to do ANYTHING so God can provide you with His grace, then you are fallen from grace and Christ has become of no effect in your life.

 

Let us look for a moment at what we have heard preached from pulpits over the past years and for some of us actually decades. Was it God’s free grace or was it law. I am afraid if we were to be honest we would say it was law. I cannot remember ever hearing a true message on grace in the 22 years or so I was a faithful in church attendance. So if I didn’t hear a message on grace, what was I hearing? I was hearing law, law and more law. Christ has become of no effect to these institutions as they have fallen from grace. If you do not attend any church, just put your TV on and listen to the preachers on there for a few hours (if you can stand to do that, I cannot anymore) and you will see that the vast majority do NOT preach grace. Their do this and do that to not only get right with God but also to stay right with God is law. In fact if you put the word together it becomes doodoo. I could use a much harsher word than even the word dung that Paul used but I will be nice. :–)) I think you get the point

 

I am thankful the Lord has begun to reveal His awesome grace to me and instead of falling FROM grace I have fallen INTO grace. And furthermore, I had absolutely nothing to do with it. It was already done for me and all I did was put me in a place where I wanted to hear Truth, regardless of what it was. “Search mode” as someone has called it on one of these comments. This is a much nicer place to be. In grace Christ DOES NOT become of no effect but in law He becomes just that…no effect. Sad but true, the Christian religion has become of no effect because they are simply back under law. It’s all about Him folks. It has nothing to do with us. May we all get into a “search mode” so the Lord can have free reign in all our lives. All He wants is for us to know the Truth that will make us free.

I will start off with a question today. When did you become holy and acceptable in God’s sight? Was it when you went to an altar and said a sinner’s prayer? Was it when you heard the gospel for the first time and began to believe?

No, it was at these times that you began to become aware of these facts but you became holy and acceptable to God at the cross and not when you believed. Can a man’s unbelief make the work of the cross ineffective? No of course it cannot do that. Nothing can undo the work of the cross and nothing can undo what He did there on our behalf. The reason is simply that it has nothing to do with our belief or unbelief. It has everything to do with His faith and not mine. All the accomplishments of the cross were done through His faith.

The Gospel does not tell you what is wrong with you but it tells you what is right with you!! We are the ones that look at what is wrong with ourselves and we do a good job at seeing what is wrong with others too. But God does not see anything wrong with us. Because Jesus had the faith required to accomplish what He came to do, which was redeeming the entire world, Father God then looks at us through what Jesus has done and not through what we do.

No supernatural revelation is needed to reveal what is wrong with you but a revelation is required for you to see what is right with you. What is right with you? In God’s eyes everything is right with you because we are in His Son and He sees us as perfect. We all know what our weaknesses and failures are but God does not see us that way. He doesn’t look at us through the law anymore in order to measure us. He measures us through the blood of Christ and we have no way to come up except righteous. We are not even measured by our own faith because righteousness was done through the Faith of Jesus. If it was through our faith I believe it would be a righteousness that constantly fluctuates as our faith is just not big enough and at times we just don’t have any at all.

There may be times that some would even wonder if there is a God at all!!! So in those times where would our righteousness be if we had to believe in order to have it? Needless to say we would constantly be in trouble if it depended on our faith. My faith simply embraces the faith of Jesus in knowing that He has redeemed us apart from my faith or anything else I do or don’t do. It

Romans 3: 21 & 22 Verse 21 begins with the word now and it is referring to after the cross. The previous verses were talking about the law and the condition of the people that were under the law as it pertains to righteousness.

But now the righteousness of God is manifested. Whose righteousness is manifested? The righteousness of God. This is not talking about our own self righteousness. And then we see in the next verse that this righteousness which is God’s is not even by our faith. It says it is by the faith of Jesus Christ!! You become righteous how? Not by your faith but by His!!!

If you ever see yourself as unrighteous just go and read that verse and it will show you that you are righteous because it did not have, nor does it have, anything whatsoever to do with you. It is His righteousness and it is attained by the faith OF Jesus and not ours. This does not mean you are righteous (perfect) in your husband or wives’ eyes but it means you are perfect in God’s eyes. Some might say that knowing you are righteous could make you arrogant etc. No, I don’t think so. Not when you realize it has nothing to do with your faith but has everything to do with the faith OF Jesus. If it had to do with our own faith then I could boast and be proud because I had somehow attained this righteousness.

But the way God did it was that it would have nothing to do with us at all therefore there can not be any boasting or arrogance. I can not boast at something that has been completely done for me without even my permission having to be asked. It was totally His faith and had nothing to do with my faith at all. The very same way that God took Adam’s disobedience and declared everyone to be sinners is the same way He took the obedience of one Jesus Christ and declared all to be righteous. There is no difference in the way this was done. Both were imputed (given without having to ask or believe) to the entire human race.

He made us righteous without even asking us our permission. We did not have to give our permission for us to have Adam’s nature and we did not have to give our permission for His righteous nature to be given to us. In all honesty, was anyone asked if they wanted to become sinners? Of course not but we all were regardless. The very same applies to righteousness. The preaching of the Gospel is not so that people will become righteous. It is so they can know they already are!!!

If they do not believe does it make them unrighteous? Of course not!! Unbelief does not make the promises of God to be of no effect. (See Romans 3:3) Jesus became obedient unto death so this could be accomplished for us at the cross. How did you become righteous? The same way the entire world did. Through the faith and obedience of Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do with us…..it is simply ALL about Him!!!

Today I am posting a question that Neil asked Bruce on his web site recently and I will try and put my views after the question and other’s views are welcome of course as always.

This is further to Neil’s first question which I posted here on September 12, 2006. The following is the question and my comment follows.

 Good Evening Bruce

Once again, many thanks for your answer to my question about falling in love with God. I’m sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I haven’t been sure how to answer you. I really enjoyed your answer and have read it over and over again….I mentioned, in an email recently to Roy, that much of this teaching, I am having real trouble accepting. Some of it, ok, lots of it, is going completely opposite to what I have been taught/learnt in church and small groups and while I am never completely closed minded, some things I find so hard to accept or embrace. But, the one thing I have found these past three weeks or so, is how i am being drawn into wanting to know more and more about what people like yourself and Roy has to say on this topic. While my head is saying “no, it cannot be truth”, I find myself continually being drawn back, wanting to know more and more. And the one biggest influence drawing me back, is the life of peace and certainty that you seem to have and the view you have of our Father and how he views us. I have never had a problem accepting God is love and how much he loves us, but I have always feared that he is waiting with a big club, ready to whack us when we continually foul up.I hope you don’t mind me asking you one more question.

In your answer, you said that we have to wait to be drawn into Gods love. If all mankind is saved, do we all know Gods love already and in that case, just waiting and being drawn in, to understand it more fully? Hope you know what I mean here, as I sometimes have trouble trying to explain myself in the way I wish.Thank you so much Bruce for your time and answers.

Neil.

My Comment

I don’t think we have to be drawn into God’s love as such because God’s love is complete and never changes and is already resident in us. He shed His love abroad into our hearts a long time ago when He brought us into Christ which of course was at the cross. Another thing I will address here Neil is that all men are not “saved”. The word saved always refers to the salvation of the soul (mind, will, emotions) which is the process of the renewing of the mind.

All mankind is redeemed as God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. If He didn’t redeem the entire human race at that time then there is something wrong with that verse or God failed at what He sent His Son to do. As the renewing of the mind happens in our lives of course we begin to understand God’s love better and better. Do we all know God’s love? No, sad to say we don’t. Is it already resident in us? Absolutely because the Godhead dwells in us as we are His temple.

One very important thing to remember here is that beginning to understand the things of God like His redemption, salvation, perfection, holiness etc is not something that comes inside of us when we hear it from someone or even when God reveals it to us. When we hear it, it activates something that is already in us. We must remember that a revelation of Jesus Christ is a revelation of someone that is already in us as well as in all of mankind. All the revelation does is reveal something to us that is already there and this revelation simply draws it out.

So to be drawn into God’s love would mean to me that love is drawn from my spirit where God dwells and placed into my heart (soul, mind, will, emotions) which begins to give me an understanding of what is already in me which of course in this case is His love. To understand it more fully simply means I am getting a better understanding of it and my whole outlook on myself, others etc does a dramatic change.

Try to remember that the fullness of God’s love is already resident in you Neil and as you experience His salvation more and more, then your understanding is enlightened and you begin to see what is already in you. One thing I know is that Gos is not waiting for anyone with a big club. All judgment was placed upon Christ and God is no longer angry at anyone. He took His wrath out on His Son on our behalf. That is the awesome reality of the cross. That is a love that we can never fully comprehend but nevertheless very true reagardless of what we believe or know about it.

If I have not explained what I mean plainly please let me know Neil and I will try and explain further. One thing I know is that it was an excellent question and deserves an explanation.

In His Grace and Peace.

Roy 

One thing I have learned recently is that what we know of God is not something that comes from the outside in.

When we hear the Gospel of Grace and Peace it is something that simply activates something in us that is already there. To preach this Gospel to people is not trying to get them to receive something and say a prayer or go to an altar call. It is telling them what is already in them as God dwells in all. I know that as we look around us we may not see that in everyone but it is none the less there. I am learning more and more that when I look at the word of God it is not that I am trying to understand God because that is never possible. The Bible is about how God looks at us and not about how we look at God. He looks at us the same way He looks at Jesus…this is my beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased. God is no longer angry at anyone. 

Who is freed from sin?
 Romans chapter 6v7 says that he that is dead is freed from sin. 

It is quite obvious that if we are dead we are freed from sin. Does this mean that we have to wait for our physical death for us to be dead to sin? No, it is saying that we are already dead with Christ because we were crucified together with Him. So our dying to sin happened the same time Jesus died. When you go back a bit to verse 5 it says we have been (past tense) planted together in the likeness of His death. We must come to the realization that His death was our death, His crucifixion was our crucifixion, His resurrection was our resurrection.  Jesus did not come to the cross to “give us a chance” at redemption. There is nowhere in the Old Testament prophets that says God was sending a Redeemer to give people a chance to be redeemed. They all said that a Redeemer was coming to redeem the entire world. When the Redeemer hung upon the cross and said it was finished, God had redeemed the entire world and sin was totally and fully dealt with.  Who is freed from sin? Those that are dead. Who are the ones that are dead? Those that were in Christ Jesus at the cross. Who was in Christ Jesus at the cross? The entire human race.  Let us remember that Jesus is not coming back to look after the problem of sin. The problem of sin was fully looked after when He resurrected from the dead. Let us not forget that everything He did was not for Himself but for us. Where there is no law, sin is not imputed (held against anyone) and the law was nailed to the tree.

In Ephesians 2v5 we read that we were quickened together with Christ and also we were raised up together with Christ and we were made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

In these few verses I want to point out the word together. If we were to ask ourselves the question as to when we were quickened, raised or seated we see that it happened at the same time that it happened to Jesus which of course was 2000 years ago at the cross. The religious community will tell you that this only happens when we say a sinner’s prayer and “invite” the Lord Jesus Christ into our heart and lives. However, when we look at these verses it says that it happened together with Christ. When were we placed in Christ? We were placed in Christ along with the rest of the human race when he drew all men unto Himself at the cross.

 

If I was to say to you that we arrived at a certain place together, we of course both arrive at the exact same time. If I arrive and 5 minutes after you arrive, we did not arrive together. If Jesus was quickened, raised and sat in heavenly places when He was raised from the dead, and if I was raised together with Him (which is at the very same time) then how come the evangelical community says it only happens to us when we believe. This says nothing about believing to make anything happen. It says I was in Christ when He was raised as I was raised together with Him. When was I seated in heavenly places? At the same time He was as it says it was done for me together with Christ. We cannot say it did not happen at the same time or if we do that, then we have to change the word together and replace it with the word later. It doesn’t state that any of that happens later as far as redemption goes. The salvation of the soul is what happens at a later time and is an ongoing process which involves the soul (mind, will, emotions etc)

 

What happened to Jesus at the cross happened to me at the same time as it is clear that I was in Him at the time and it happened to me at the same time it happened to Him. To say that it only “comes into effect” at a later time and only when we do something to receive this redemption, we do not believe what the word says. If we say we have to do something to be quickened and raised we are actually saying that Jesus did not succeed at the cross and our self righteousness is what will complete the work. I am glad to say to you that what Jesus came to accomplish, He did accomplish all and left nothing for me to do to activate this. That is why He could say “it is finished” because that is exactly what He had done….He had finished it all. He left nothing for me to do to have redemption. If He says that I was raised together (at the same time) as He was then that is when it happened. If He says I was seated together (at the same time He was) with him then that is when it happened. Thiis of course is speaking in a spiritual sense.

 

I know I have stressed the word together here quite a bit but it is an important word and I will leave you with the meaning of the word in the original language.. Strong’s says it means “to rise from death in company with”. I think that is pretty clear as to when our redemption happened.